1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for warning a driver of dangerous conditions while driving, and more particularly, to a driving assistant system and method having a warning function for identifying a risk level, which synthetically determines a running speed of a vehicle, a driver's inattention (how much attention the driver is paying to the road), a road condition, and the like and provides a warning corresponding to a degree of risk to the driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
With of the increase in the use of automobiles which have become necessities in modern society, occurrence of traffic accidents has also increased rapidly. Traffic accidents can occur for many different reasons, among them being driver negligence and unexpected risks due to the road conditions. Among these factors, a couple of the most common causes are speeding or drowsiness. These conditions can cause serious accidents leading to personal injury or even death.
A of 2.5 million traffic accidents occurring within one year by a national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) shows that 25 to 56% of all traffic accidents are caused by a driver's careless driving. The three most significant factors causing this carelessness are sight negligence, mental concentration negligence, and drowsiness.
In an effort to solve the problem, major automobile manufacturers continue to develop various new systems for assisting driver's in safe vehicular operation and apply these new systems to the vehicles accordingly. Some manufactures have developed techniques which are able to determine when the driver is becoming drowsy by sensing a driver's reactions and movement using a camera or monitoring the driver's pulse through a sensor, and display a warning lamp on a dash board to recommend that the driver stop to take a break for a while when the driver's drowsy or is acting in a careless manor.
However, drowsy or careless driving is just as likely to cause as serious of traffic accidents as those caused by drunk driving. Therefore, research on systems for synthetically determining a driver's consciousness and taking aggressive and immediate action according to a determination result beyond simple recommendation of taking a break is required.